Conglomerate Reborn
Conglomerate Reborn is a space trader novel released in 2016, written by Patrick Nielsen. Beginning Aun Argent is dead and his trade faction has dissolved thanks to the chaos caused by Strowgrat's ambush taking out multiple high ranking officers. With no one to lead the faction and no one to pay the soldiers the Argent Conglomerate is no more. Far Away on Io, one of Jupiter's most chaotic moons, Aun's half-brother Onoy Veen has heard the news of his brother's assassination. Onoy was furious as he and his brother were not on good terms before his death, Onoy has always wanted his brother and father to like him as if he was part of their family and when their father died without Onoy gaining his liking it made him even more passionate about making up with Aun, but he never did. And so now he sets out to get his revenge on Graham Strowgrat. Onoy was the leader of a mercenary band who did some illegal trading on the side with the loot they got from their missions. He summoned all his soldiers to declare that they were now part of the Veen Conglomerate, a new trading faction that would become as great as the Argent Conglomerate was. Onoy put a bounty on Graham of a whole cargo hold of bananabis to the one who managed to capture him and safely bring him to Onoy. Onoy started by going to Earth where chaos was rampant with many traders starting up new small trade factions to become the new leading faction on Earth. Many factions also started hiring mercenaries to attack other factions or to protect their own. Onoy's faction started raiding trade convoys heading for the Moon to steal and sell it himself on Io where he had many contacts from past bounty missions. He also attacked several other trade factions who didn't have any soldiers, turning Earth into a war zone. Participating Factions Most notable of the trade factions on Earth were: Grodd Facilities led by the brothers Dopeguy and Blondopeguy, Ellis Robotics led by Dr. Ellis, Carston Weaponry led by Carston Senior and his son Carston Junior. There were also a lot of factions from other planets trying to get a piece of the market share like: Faz Galactic led by Mirela Faz, Falkos Trading Company led by Jenn Falkos working together with Hala Couzens the leader of Venusian Trading Company, Phen Corporations led by Teig Phen, Deimos Research & Trading Company led by Roger Leiss and Dr. Bertram, Lang Shipyards led by Greg Lang and finally Howle's Ketralite Farming Company led by Dan Howle. Big Trouble The bigger companies like Faz Galactic and Falkos Trading Company who already are the leading factions on their respective planets Mars and Venus surely want what Argent Conglomerate had. This could be the chance to surpass the other faction by a long shot. But Onoy saw this coming and put his best soldiers, some of which were ex-burner elite, on the job of raiding their convoys and protecting Veen's convoys. Onoy felt like it still wasn't enough so he made an alliance with the C.B. Company (CBC) on Mars. They would provide tracking systems to spy on Faz Galactic and Falkos as well as doing other kinds of sabotage through hacking. Now when the big dogs were taken care of Onoy focused on conquering Earth through military superiority while trading would be a secondary focus. CBC provided the locations of all enemy factions so Onoy together with his soldiers could easily plan their attacks. But doing so still would be no easy match since he was lacking the men to keep out Faz and Falkos and taking out the factions of Earth. Onoy's main rival was Grodd Facilities who used the Foglight tracking system as well as having lots of soldiers as an established faction for centuries. Onoy planned to attack one of the Grodd outposts guarding Carston Weaponry's headquarters who provide weapons for Grodd Facilities when he got news from Io of his agents spotting Ricky Bates' ship heading towards Io. Onoy decided to go to Io with a band of soldiers to capture them instead. Getting Help From Io Meanwhile on Io. Bates and Strowgrat have just landed his ship in one of the ghetto areas where Bates bought two hotel rooms to rest for the night and since Strowgrat had hurt his leg, they needed a good hiding spot and protection for a while, Ricky knew the place. On the next day he left Strowgrat in the hotel to go see an old "friend" not far from there. Walking there was no problem for Bates, he bought a Sting on the way and almost got cut by a robber but he hit the bottle of Sting on the robber's head breaking it and pouring the sting over him, melting his skin. He kept walking until he saw the apartment building with fortified windows and a "stay out" sign on the front door. He knocked on the door and kicked it open to see two shocked young "tough guys" sitting in what looked like a homemade bar. They revealed their pocket knives to Bates and asked if he knew whose house he just broke into. He produced a high caliber handgun and asked where their leader was, one of them pointed towards the staircase next to the bar. He told them to sit down, which they did, then he walked up the stairs where he was met with more bandits but this time they didn't just have pocket knives but he was greeted by shotguns and machine pistols. He told them his name and they immediately put down their guns, one of them told Bates to follow him. He was led up a few staircases and finally "In here Bates" the guy said and pointed towards a door with a blue sheen coming from the other side of it. Bates entered a room full of heavily armed gang members all drinking bottles of Mythological Blue Sting. He was immediately recognized by one of them "Bates? Come join us" he said. Bates sat down at their table "This is the drinking room, here you go" the man said and handed him a Sting. Bates gladly accepted and asked "How has your gang been doing, Niklas?" Niklas responded "We've been having some trouble with a little gang cutting off our sting supply... but we took care of that as you can see!" Niklas laughed. "Good, I need your help with fighting off Onoy Veen who's put a bounty on my friend Strowgrat, the assassin of Aun Argent" Niklas sighed and said "What do I get in return?" Bates told him about the situation on Earth and how there's a lot of money to be made if they work together to make sure Onoy Veen doesn't conquer Earth and become the next Argent Conglomerate. Niklas looked more interested now and asked "So, what's your plan then?" Bates responded with "I need your Gries Gang to fight with me. We will work with Veen's greatest foe, the Grodd brothers, to defeat him. And don't worry about them ruling Earth, they might be a strong faction but not enough to become like Aun Argent" Niklas agreed and they proceeded to drink for the rest of the night. The next day they prepare the Gries Gang to get on Bates' ship then head for Earth. Bates goes to get Strowgrat but finds that his hotel room has been ravaged and he's nowhere to be seen. Prisoner Aboard on Onoy Veen's ship. Onoy has put Strowgrat in a locked room on the ship. They are heading for their headquarters when a Falkos ship is spotted aproaching them, Onoy directs his pilot to keep flying for Earth. On the way there more Falkos ships appear to hunt them. Onoy has led them into his trap and reinforcements from the Moon interrupt the Falkos ships and outnumber them while Onoy safely lands on Earth. They take Strowgrat to their headquarter's heavily guarded prison with a cell specially made for Strowgrat. He's thrown into a big dark cell and the door is closed making it pitch black, the light flickers and then slightly lights up the room. Strowgrat struggles to stand up and rolls over to find something to lean on but instead he sees two wide, sinister eyes looking right at him. He regonizes the hair, like straws from a hay pile. The creature jumps at him and drags him up on the wall were he's chained up then it crawls into the corner of the dark cell and blends into the darkness. New Alliance Bates' ship arrives at the Promenade Station landing site occupied by Grodd Facilities. Bates and the Gries Gang walk up to the guarded gate and talk to the guard telling them their intentions, the guard contacts higher ups who allowed them access. When they got inside a soldier presented himself as Captain Swolo and told them to follow him. He took them to Blondopeguy's office. Where Bates told Blondopeguy how Onoy Veen kidnapped Strowgrat and how they want to help in the fight against the Veen Conglomerate. Blondopeguy is happy to hear about soldiers willing to fight for free and he's heard about what happened to Strowgrat and Bates before they fled from Earth but they have to prove their loyalty. Using the foglight tracking system they found a vulnerable warehouse owned by the Veen Conglomerate. Blondopeguy decided to lead a group of soldiers there with the help of Gries Gang and Ricky Bates. Ricky flew them there in his ship and stayed in it with some Grodd guards to guard it as the rest went in for the assault. They breached the warehouse doors and went in but it seemed abandoned, Blondopeguy assumed an ambush was coming so they searched the warehouse quickly and found nothing but explosives which would be valuable in future missions. But they did not foresee that CBC had laid this as a trap and successfully blew the warehouse up from their safe base. Ricky Bates saw the explosion and quickly started up his ship and flew back bringing the news of their losses to Captain Swolo, that Blondopeguy and the whole gries gang as well as most of the soldiers who followed are all dead. Bates was allowed to stay at Promenade Station while Dopeguy was reportedly on his way there from another base. Unexpected Later at Veen's headquarters. Onoy Veen together with his new ally Timeken's Dentropia Machinery Industries (TDM) has been working on a new machine. While doing so Strowgrat's personal prisonguard "The Maria" has been trying to torture some info from Strowgrat regarding Bates and their plans but with no success since Bates never told Strowgrat where he went more than meeting an old friend as well as them never planning further than to escape to Io. Now Onoy has brought Strowgrat to his huge office. With Strowgrat observing, Onoy brings in a goatephant to a machine in the middle of the office. Timeken activates the machine and a ray hits the goatephant, soon after in its place stands a woman. Onoy explains "This, Graham, is Elizabeth. She was turned into a goatephant by her ex who was a magician. But now we are getting married and you're invited" Strowgrat can't believe what he just witnessed. The office doors open and in comes Hastur Sayeed, the man who ended Strowgrat's reign on Earth and wounded him, he salutes Onoy then pulls out an MoA Wedding Handbook to wed them. More soldiers enter the room and shortly after the ceremony begins with Hastur reading out of the handbook. Meeting the Brother Back at Promenade Station, Dopeguy has just arrived. Bates has been spending his time at the bar. Dopeguy greets him and introduces him to his special force, the Adventure Bros. The Adventure Bros is a group of skilled space marines who are sworn blood brothers. Bates is greeted by two of the Adventure Bros called Leland and Oofnkjo, they are the most skillful in the brotherhood right now. Dopeguy says that Bates will join the Adventure Bros on their secret missions. Their first mission is to infiltrate one of the bigger Veen Conglomerate bases to see if they find Strowgrat there. Dopeguy will send his forces to attack another base to create a distraction. Bates and the Adventure Bros fly in Bates ship until they reach their landing point at which they will walk the rest of the way to make sure they're not tracked by the CBC. They spot several ships heading towards where they landed but not Veen ships, these are from the Phen Corporation. One of the ships hovers above Bates' and drops a bomb on it then flies away. Now they are stranded with no choice but to continue on their mission. After hours of walking in the large jungle in which Veen's base is located they spot several Veen ships seemingly looking for something, perhaps Teig Phen sold the information to Onoy Veen who sent out ships looking for them. Adventure Bro Leland contacts Dopeguy and requests a ship to come pick them up since the mission has been spoiled. Dopeguy says they'll have to wait another day before he'll be able to dispatch enough ships to safely take them home and fight off potential enemy ships. So they look for a place to sleep and find an empty cave where they spend the night. The Deal At this point it was clear that Veen Conglomerate was becoming the leading faction and a contact of Onoy's named Gil Tartui on the Moon who had helped him establish good trade there, Tartui gave him the idea of getting a license to sell Sting on Earth from the MoA which would surely and finally mark his faction as the greatest on Earth and provide him with the funds needed to win the war. Onoy sent a request to the MoA council on Earth and got a reply the next day telling him that a representant would arrive at their base shortly. Hours later an MoA ship lands in their base and out of it comes a man in a tuxedo, guarded by many MoA Guards. He greets Onoy and explains that he is Representant Smith who will discuss the deal with him. "The Ministry of Accounts feels that both factions would profit greatly off of this agreement, financially as well as strengthening the bond between our factions" said representant Smith as he hands him a document. Onoy reads through it and says "You only want 15% of the profit, how generous. But you'll also be taxing it..." "We believe it is a fair deal that you won't regret" responds Smith. Onoy knows that the MoA wants his faction to depend on them just like the Argent Conglomerate did but he won't let that happen, but he also knows that this deal would surely win him the war and make him rich. After some thinking and discussing with Tartui he agrees and they shake hands before representant Smith leaves again. The Profit The fighting goes on as usual while the profits start flowing in from the Sting sales. Onoy Veen uses his new funds to buy the latest fighter ships, Lang's DC3, from Lang Shipyards as well as hiring the elite mercenary band Herring Mercenaries. It's one of the largest mercenary bands full of veteran soldiers who'll fight any foe for the right amount. It's led by the renowned South Martian Sebastian "Superhero" Herring, he suffers from Ketramonia giving him a huge chest making him look very intimidating and strong. Onoy has also made a new ally, Teig Phen since he spotted Bates close to Onoy's Base. Onoy felt that he had the forces capable of taking Promenade Trading Station from Grodd Facilities. He sent many of his new ships filled with Phen's, Herring's and some of Onoy's own forces to assault Promenade. The Battle For Promenade Trading Station The rescue ships had just picked up Bates and the Adventure Bros when they got reports of the attack on Promenade. They flew back as fast as they could and when they saw Promenade in the distance there was a swarm of DC3s flying over it. Bates ordered the fighter ships to go in first and create a distraction while their transport ship lands them so they can help on ground level. Onoy's forces had already broken through but the fighting continued all over the station, Bates and the Adventure Bros went looking for Dopeguy in the chaos. They broke through a lot of Phen's soldiers to see Herring's mercenaries at the end of a long hallway covering Dopeguy's office entrance, firing at Dopeguy and his personal guards inside. Herring turned his focus on Bates then one of the Adventure Bros called Ras the Moose rushed towards him but Herring landed his legendary Superman punch right in his face and knocked him to the ground where he laid unconscious. Herring ordered his men to make a line in front of him. Leland fired towards Herring but his high caliber handgun didn't even penetrate Herring's armor. Herring's forces opened fire against them as well now and the battle was on. The other Adventure Bros had to watch as they dragged Ras away to be a captive. Behind Herring's lines they could see that there was some internal fighting going on. Herring had gotten into an argument with his long time friend Sam Hater. Oofnkjo ordered the Adventure Bros to produce their melee weapons as he was going in for the charge with his bros following soon after. Bates ran in as well but with nothing but his fists as he was a veteran brawler. It was pure bloody chaos, soldiers falling left and right. Oofnkjo saw Leland getting outnumbered and went in to help but was stopped by Jonas Pundare, one of Herring's most skilled soldiers and close friend. Oofnkjo went in to strike Jonas and easily so as Jonas was high on bananabis. Oofnkjo proceeded to help Leland but got hit by a bullet in the chest and fell to the ground. Leland picked him up over his shoulder and started running out of the chaos and back to where they came from. While doing so he saw that they had been surrounded by Captain Sayeed and his soldiers at the end of the long hallway they were fighting in. Sayeed ordered his forces to open fire and they shot down Leland. Bates and some of the Adventure Bros managed to make it into Dopeguy's office where he was hiding behind his desk with his armed guards providing cover fire for Bates. Dopeguy told them that there is no way to get out of there other than that door. They hid behind the desk and listened as the Adventure Bros still out there were shot down and finally as Sayeed told them to give up and be captured or die fighting. One of the Adventure Bros stood up and was immediately shot down. "THROW AWAY YOUR WEAPONS!" Sayeed yelled. Dopeguy ordered them to do as he said but Bates told them to wait as he threw a grenade at them instead. Most of Sayeed's forces ran out of the room before it exploded only killing one or two of them. Then Bates opened fire at the door, Dopeguy was as mad as Maciek the martian god of anger. But now they had no choice but to resist Sayeed's attack and try to break free. Sayeed's forces rushed in again and this time they were met with Bates' Sting Molotov putting them ablaze. Sayeed ordered his soldiers to pull back again, at least half of his forces were dead now. "GIVE UP NOW OR WE WILL OPEN FIRE!" a loud megaphoned voice yelled. Dopeguy looked out the wide window and saw a huge DC3 hovering outside. He ordered his troops to throw their weapons to Sayeed immediately and so they did, including Bates and the Adventure Bros. Sayeed and his soldiers stormed the room and arrested them, then they were brought to the landing zone and lined up together with the other prisoners, among whom stands: Ras the Moose, Carston Senior, Ricky Bates, Dopeguy Grodd, Adrian Oram, the remaining Adventure Bros, some Grodd Soldiers and Dopeguy's personal guards. A group of ships is spotted flying towards Promenade, a transport ship surrounded by four DC3s. It landed and out came Onoy Veen with his new wife, Elizabeth, and shortly after her the Maria came hunched over on all four following in their steps. Onoy looked excited and happy, he congratulated his soldiers on winning the war then he turned towards Dopeguy and pulled his handgun, aiming it at him. Dopeguy spat down the barrel and clogged it with his thick chewing ketralite. Onoy ordered Sayeed to throw him to the ground and have the soldiers beat him to death while he continued mocking the other prisoners. Then he ordered to have all prisoners led into the ship's prison department while they are transported to the Veen Headquarter's prison where they might meet their fate. The Great Execution Even though Veen is celebrating winning the war against his major competetor, Grodd Facilities, there are still many smaller factions rebelling against him all over Earth. Onoy schedules a great beheading of Bates and Strowgrat, he will leave the other prisoners to rot. Also combined with a great festival with tons of food from all over the solar system, sexy dancers from Venus and sting for everyone. The festival has to be cancelled though, because of hundreds of people dying from sting poisoning and many others getting severe internal sting burns. A large movement of people claiming this was planned by Onoy Veen to poison the citizens. This guerilla rebel movement burn down and destroy big parts of Veen's headquarters, forcing him to flee to promenade station. Herring mercenaries are left behind trying to fight back against the angered mobs but Veen HQ is ultimately occupied by the rebels. Then the rebel leaders reveal themselves, it was actually an organized rebellion against Onoy, the masterminds being from the E.G.G. Company lead by the couple Jakke Sean and Chalaza Strowgrat who in the chaos managed to free Graham and Bates. They also retrieved the other prisoners from the prison. Chalaza is the grandchild of Yoel Strowgrat, a high minister of the MoA High Council and Graham's uncle. Together they plot how they will fight against such a mighty faction and how to even survive if they cant. Ricky Bates doesnt believe they stand a chance and tells them he will retreat to Io where he'll try to start up a gang to get rich. Graham takes his farewells and Bates takes one of the left over DC3s and goes straight out to space hoping not to be detected. Graham suggests heading off to the Suelemaele trade station controlled by an old friend of his and the leader of a small trade faction still managing to stay alive thanks to its stealth and toughness. That trade faction is Bust the Runk Company (B.t.R.) lead by Kåledj Doozhbaeg'gyi a martian. They grab some DC3's and fly there, while being protected by the Foglight cloaking system used by some of the freed Grodd engineers. Though when they get there, BtR soldiers open fire against them and it isn't until Graham speaks through a megaphone and tells them who he is and why he's there. Kåledj with tears in his eyes recognizes his voice and tells his soldiers to stand back. Graham steps out, Kåledj being a very emotional man runs up to Graham and hugs him, then they have serious talk about what's been going down. Kåledj is more than happy to join their alliance. The next day they get attacked by a force of Veen's soldiers, thanks to the gunfire from BtR soldiers, the skilled CBC hackers managed to track them down and sent the ape hybrid super soldiers, genetically engineered by the scientist Kirill Russiianov working for TDM Industries. BtR soldiers stand no chance, the ape hybrids rip their balls off and also skillfully shoot them down. Soldiers of the EGG company manage to hold them back though, a hero known as Jonny Heineken sacrifice himself together with 10 other EGG soldiers to die while the others flee to another BtR hideout. Jonny was the first to fall then his men die not long after they flew off, his balls were ripped clean off and the ape hybrids feasted on the balls they've ripped off that night. Kåledj amasses his Goatephant cavalry imported from North Mars and trained to fight against high-tech armored vehicles with great success. They also cannot be tracked through any CBC tracking system. They ride the next night together, one thousand goatephants carrying the important figures and elite soldiers. They strike against the ape hybrids still occupying Suelemaele, the apes put up a good fight but they all die in a big massacre. Knowing they probably contacted CBC hackers, reinforcements will come swiftly. They leave behind a few BtR soldiers as bait, one thousand goatephants waiting in the bushes. But what comes is a big bomber plane that bombs Suelemaele to ruins. Veen's Setbacks Back at Veen's new HQ in the himalayas called Veenshire. Kirill has taken his life by injecting seminal fluids into his brain, this put Timeken in a depressive state greatly impacting the scientific progress of TDM. The whole ape hybrid program has been shut down since Kirill wouldnt reveal the secrets of it to anyone. Joe Nee of the CBC has worked on minimalistic spy drones to be sent out all over the scanes region where Suelemaele and all the other BtR bases are located. The Veen Conglomerate has total control of the space around Earth, Veen therefore orders more mercenaries from Mars, these come from North Mars, known for their savage traditions and backward ways but also their skilled mercenaries. The Zapmi Band lead by Roger Pontare will be battling against BtR and the EGG Company. Many of Veen's other mercenaries are busy with other battles across the globe, Phen Corporations bomb and fight rebels in Veen's old HQ where Grodd engineers are trapped but able to use their tracking and cloaking system to help BtR and EGG in the scanes. What Veen doesnt know is that Kåledj, Graham, Chalaza and Jakke have been riding their horde of Goatephants towards the Himalayas to strike the heart of Veen's Conglomerate and hopefully end his life and reign. Roger Pontare and his Zapmi Band ravage most of BtR's bases before they get to Veenshire. When the horde is resting not far away from their goal, they've been spotted by Joe Nee's spy drones and ambushed by Veen soldiers. But Veen misjudged the power of the goatephant cavalry and his soldiers only manage to get a few kills before they fall easy victims to the strong cavalry. Veen sends transport ships for the Zapmi Band to come back but when they hear about the goatephant cavalry, Pontare refuses to engage in combat with them, knowing how devastating they can be, but he does have a suggestion. He asks Veen to send transport ships to import his trained Goataroos, a cross between kangaroos and goats, they have the boxing skill and muscle of a kangaroo but the grace and dangerous horns of a goat. Veen complies but it will take time. The goatephant horde reaches Veenshire and attempts to besiege it but it's a costly one where they lose a lot of their cavalry to the great defenses of Veenshire, they are forced to retreat and spend the next week raiding the surrounding towns and villages to cripple and starve out Veenshire, but Veen still controls the airspace and therefore can import food freely. Eventually the Donkgoats arrive and the Zapmi band rides them in a swift charge against the goatephant horde, which ends in a huge massacre for both sides but the goatephant horde ends up victories even managing to kill Roger Pontare himself. At this point their goatephant horde is too small and they have to go back home to find another way to defeat Veen's Conglomerate. Ending Note As they come home Kåledj is sad to find that all of his bases, his childhood homes, have been burned to the ground and the population ravaged by the North Martian savages. With nothing left to lose he decides it would be worth it to try an airdrop invasion on Veenshire, Graham tries to talk him out of it since it would be a sure death but Kåledj would be happy to die fighting. Chalaza gives him the DC3's and wishes him good luck. Kåledj and his most loyal soldiers travel with him to Veenshire where they die fighting without accomplishing anything. Now Strowgrat and the EGG Company really have nowhere to go but into hiding as Veen conquers the Earth. Years it's been since it started and more years it takes until it all settles down and Veen finally becomes the only trading faction on Earth except for his allies. The Earth undergoes a dark period of poverty and recovery, a lot of dissent and rebellions against what seems to be a tyrant. But after that, the Earth enters a new golden age, the best it's seen since Bitty's store. After many years, smaller trade factions and independent traders are finally allowed to trade again. Strowgrat has gone underground trading in the black market just like he always has and the EGG Company conducts organized uproars and rebellions all over the Earth. Category:Novel